Stock Futures Flat Before Economic Data
Thursday September 14, 7:24 am ET
Stock Futures Flat Ahead of Economic Data; Overseas Markets Advance
LONDON (AP) -- U.S. stock market futures were flat Thursday ahead of a raft of data including jobless claims and retail sales, with Xilinx a possible faller after the chipmaker cut its revenue forecast and General Electric the subject of a broker downgrade.
Among companies due to report, Bear Stearns is expected to post third-quarter income of $2.87 a share and Adobe is seen announcing earnings of 26 cents a share for the quarter.
Dow Jones futures were recently up 1 point, S&P 500 futures rose 0.5 point and Nasdaq futures were up 0.8 point.
U.S. stock markets posted gains for the second day in a row on Wednesday, pushing the major averages to new four-month closing highs, as investors cheered solid earnings from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and lower Treasury yields.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 45.23 points, the Nasdaq Composite gained 11.85 points and the S&P 500 rose 4.96 points.
A raft of economic data could offer direction, with investors set to focus on weekly jobless claims, August retail sales, U.S. business inventories for July and the August import price index.
The dollar gained rose 0.26 percent against the Japanese yen, changing hands at 117.73 yen, but remained virtually unchanged against the euro.
Crude oil pushed back above $64 a barrel in electronic trading after breaking a seven-day losing streak Wednesday. The October contract gained 56 cents at $64.53 a barrel.
Among companies expected to see active trading, Xilinx after Wednesday's closing bell cut its quarterly sales forecast, blaming lower-than-expected revenue from its customers in Asia.
General Electric Co. was cut to neutral from buy at UBS, which said it believes earnings growth at the industrial conglomerate may be challenged by the shape of the yield curve, a bottoming out of reserves at GE Capital, higher tax rates, continued earnings softness at NBC and the eventual deceleration of aerospace aftermarket activity.
Stanley Furniture said it expects third-quarter sales to be below its prior view due to continued weakness in retail furniture. The company now sees a sales decline of 8 percent to 10 percent, with earnings per share of 27 cents to 29 cents, compared with its prior view of 38 cents to 41 cents.
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. agreed to sell its Anadarko Canada Corp. subsidiary to Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. for $4.08 billion.
Lattice Semiconductor Corp. said late Wednesday it now expects third-quarter revenue to grow 1 percent to 3 percent sequentially. The Hillsboro, Ore.-based company had previously forecast third-quarter revenue to be in a range of flat to up 4 percent sequentially.
Overseas, the German DAX 30 index was up 0.3 percent in midday trading, as Japan's Nikkei 225 ended up 1.2 percent.
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